Thursday, January 31, 2013

St. Louis Etsy Artist Will "Jazz Up Your Crap" for Twenty Dollars

Getting a crappy gift is a universal experience. Feeling too guilty to throw it out might be a particularly Midwestern affliction.

That's why when Daily RFT read about an Etsy service called "Jazz Up Your Crap," we had this weird feeling that whoever was behind it had to be a St. Louisan. The artist offers to take terrible or boring gifts and transform them with her seriously dark sense of humor.

And we were right -- she's from the Lou. We called "Cappy Sue" at her home-slash-studio to find out more.

Here's how the artist explains it: "You send me your ugly items. I send you back your ugly humorous items." It doesn't make sense until you see it:

Cappy Sue

Cappy Sue

click to enlarge

Cappy Sue

"My whole idea for it is, you get these gifts from people. You don't want to give them away. You know they gave you something with good intentions," says Cappy. "Why not make it something really fun for yourself?"

Cappy says she'll accept anything from her customers and for $20, she'll take it down into her basement studio and go nuts. She says she asks a few questions -- like can it be X-rated or should she keep it clean -- then dives into her treasure trove of found items, vintage junk and craft supplies.

While pleased with the exposure, Cappy prefers not to give her real name. She says her creations have earned her a fair amount of hate mail. The worst, she says, was the time she found an online forum for women who save their placentas after giving birth.

"These ladies seemed more interested in their placentas than their children," says Cappy.